Mortgage Fraud Victims To Get Paltry Settlement

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) More than 100 people who say they were victimized by a mortgage fraud scheme would get only a few thousand each under a proposed settlement.

Ten people have been convicted in the Metropolitan Money Store scheme, which took advantage of homeowners facing foreclosure.

The plaintiffs in the civil suit are Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., residents. Their lawyers say they lost more than $60 million in the equity-stripping scheme.

However, the settlement would provide at most a total of $344,000. An attorney for the plaintiffs say that's the best deal the parties could reach because most of the defendants are in default and the others have limited assets.

The settlement is awaiting approval by a federal judge.

Information from: The Daily Record of Baltimore, http://www.mddailyrecord.com (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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